With investigations into a political funds scandal involving factions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party being conducted on a full scale, Yoshimasa Hayashi started off his new job as the country's chief cabinet secretary in a prudent manner.
Having publicly said that he aims to become prime minister one day, Hayashi has played it safe so far during daily news conferences as the top spokesman of the Cabinet of current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Many of his answers to questions regarding the scandal have been that the government will act accordingly based on Kishida's statements that he will work on regaining public confidence in politics.